Wood on Words: We are one vocal nation

It’s prime time for “vox populi.” We’re finally in the homestretch of the run for office, that part where most politicians are genuinely interested in what citizens are thinking.

Barry Wood

It’s prime time for “vox populi.” We’re finally in the homestretch of the run for office, that part where most politicians are genuinely interested in what citizens are thinking.

Pollsters are feverishly doing their part, trying to determine what’s on the minds of millions of Americans by actually asking a few hundred of us.

And we love to give our opinions, especially when they’re negative. We’re a “vocal” nation, sometimes even a “vociferous” one.

We use the Latin term “vox populi,” literally “the voice of the people,” for “public opinion or sentiment.” At election time, we channel our opinions into the act of voting.

The word “vote” is derived from the Latin “vovere,” for “to vow.” A “vow,” of course, is “a solemn promise or pledge.” If we like (or believe) what a candidate promises, we’ll vote for that person.

If the candidate delivers on those promises, that person is likely to keep getting our votes — a form of “devotion,” another word from the same root.

When candidates don’t follow through on their promises, voters tend to feel “provoked,” as in angered or annoyed. In general, to provoke is “to excite to some action or feeling.” In the above case, the likely action is to vote for someone else next time — after giving the promise-breaker what for.

The base of the “-voke” words — “provoke,” “evoke,” “invoke” and “revoke” — is our old friend “vox.”

Not surprisingly, this is where “voice” and related words, including the above-mentioned “vocal” and “vociferous,” come from.

Less obviously, two “language” words also are rooted in “vox” — “vowel” (certain letters) and “vocabulary” (all letters in all combinations).

“Vocation” and “avocation,” which I wrote about in an earlier column on “work” words, also are part of this lineage, from the concept of “vocation” as a calling.

And so are “vouch,” “voucher” and “vouchsafe.”

That third one isn’t used much anymore. Its very definition is a bit uninviting: “to be gracious enough or condescend to give or grant,” as in “to vouchsafe a reply.”

In contrast, “voucher” is a hot-button term these days, particularly as it’s applied in education. Read the definition carefully (it’s a wordy one) and it should be clear why this is a controversial issue:

A voucher is “a document granting a family a certain sum per child, from public education funds, for use as partial tuition to a private or parochial school, thereby making possible enrollment there instead of public school.”

No wonder people are vocal about it. It sounds like something that ought to be voted on.
Whatever issues interest you, whatever your politics are, and whether or not you’re vocal about them, make your voice heard by voting Nov. 4.

Barry Wood is a Register Star copy editor. Contact him at bwood@rrstar.com or read his blog at blogs.e-rockford.com/woodonwords/.